


How the Mighty Fall

by ximeria



Series: 2017 Bimonthly Shorts (x-men AUs) [19]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Humor, M/M, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 08:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: Erik never meant to let this go on for as long as it had. Letting Agent X flirt with him had simply become a habit.





	How the Mighty Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [afrocurl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/gifts).



> I had a vague idea that this would turn out hot and heavy - but damn it if the story didn't turn out PG.
> 
> I'm gifting this to Afrocurl because she always lines up to beta when I have a long fic that I need beaten into submission and I don't praise her enough :D
> 
> If you're not familiar with the previous parts of this mini-series, do read it or it probably won't make as much sense as it should.

Agent X had returned from his latest, more or less, successful mission.

When Erik considered it a little less than the man's usual 100% success rate, it was down to the fact how bruised and battered the other man was. And how tired he looked - not to mention the tiredness he projected - which spoke volumes and gave Erik a headache.

Erik was leaning against the locker opposite Charles', waiting for him to limp back from his shower. He was tinkering with one of his small projects - this one he figured he might hide as a tie pin - or maybe match it up with a pair of cufflinks. They would be twice as efficient in emitting a temporary paralyzing burst.

Maybe a matching tie pin that could emit an emp? He put the idea in the back of his head and tweaked the microscopic tech, noticing a sour resonance in his own metal arm. Perhaps he should spend a little time tweaking that as well? He'd had a few ideas for upgrading it lately, but hadn't really had the time.

Normally he would put the blame on the agents for coming to him with this or that tech that they'd broken in the field, or if he was annoyed enough, he'd blame Charles for wasting his time flirting with him.

The latter, however, had been missing lately. Erik was a little surprised to find that he hoped it was because Charles had been busy and not because he was giving up. It wasn't that Erik was playing hard to get, he just wasn't normally interested in advances from any agents - not that it happened often. His reputation as a contrary asshole preceded him to the point of him only having the utmost resilient assistants. Not a thing he was complaining about. He just wanted people to work for greatness, work for what they wanted, what they _could_ be.

And he'd done much the same with Agent X - though maybe keeping him at an arm's length for nearly a year was overdoing it. But in their line of work it tended to be that either he was crazy busy or Charles was crazy busy and Erik had allowed it to just become habit.

It had nothing to do with E complaining that the UST was giving her a headache.

Erik felt the water valve being turned off and began finishing up the loose ends of his little project.

Charles shot him a tired look when he came back into the locker room. "So what did I break this time?" he asked turning his back on Erik while fiddling with the lock on his locker.

Erik put his little project into his pocket and stepped forward, placing a hand on either side of Charles, palms flat on the metal of the lockers, the sound of his own metal hand on the metal surface loud in the otherwise empty locker room. He watched the trickle of water running down Charles' spine with passing interest.

"Nothing that can't be fixed," Erik said quietly. He wondered if his own mental shields were good enough that Charles hadn't noticed his resolve.

"Ah," Charles said, not at all sounding like he got it.

Erik opened his mouth to say something, anything that could break the tension. They always traded jokes and barbs, but at this point Erik was surprised, and a little impressed, that Charles was even still on his feet.

"I'm sorry, Quartermaster, but I don't think I'm up to our usual tradition of post-mission banter," Charles said, some of his usual mirth making it into his tired voice.

Erik rolled his eyes and undid Charles' locker with a mere thought. "I wouldn't have been expecting it, Charles - I was about to offer to take you home so you could get some sleep. You're bleeding tiredness all over the place and you look like you're about to drop."

Charles froze in front of him and Erik realized that this was possibly the first time he'd used the man's first name out loud. Taking a chance, he lowered his metal arm to slip it around Charles' waist, the damp warm skin setting off all his small sensory input technology. Charles had never been afraid of Erik and had always made a point of not seeing Erik's metal arm as a horrible thing.

Charles didn't disappoint this time either. He seemed to suddenly lose whatever kept his spine rigid and slumped back against Erik, who suddenly found himself holding up most of his weight.

"You choose now that I'm halfway asleep on my feet to make such an offer, Erik." Charles' voice was soft and finally more of the humour that Erik was accustomed to bled into it.

"I wasn't making any offer that would need you to be able to take advantage of it," Erik muttered.

"So I just lie back and think of Queen and country?" Charles put one hand on top of Erik's resting on his stomach. It warmed the metal even faster, trapped between two sources of heat.

"I was expecting you to lie back and sleep," Erik all but growled, though he couldn't help the fondness coming through. He couldn't ignore the heat from Charles' hand either, or the small hitch in the man's breathing. They'd been up close and personal before in the line of duty, but it was the first time Erik could allow himself to revel in the physical closeness.

"Kinky," Charles replied and the leer in his voice would have worked much better hadn't he interrupted himself with a yawn.

"If you play your cards right you might even get breakfast," Erik offered, finally stepping off his ledge and it didn't feel half as scary as he'd expected. If anything, it was immensely freeing. It didn't hurt how well Charles' body fit against his own.

"Ooh, breakfast at Chez Lehnsherr?" Charles leaned his head back against Erik's shoulder, yawning again.

"Or lunch, depending on when you wake up," Erik said good naturedly, allowing himself to press his nose against Charles' neck for moment, breathing in his clean scent. "I've even got tea - somewhere."

Charles shivered. "Erik…"

Erik pulled back, not enough to leave Charles to hold his own weight, but enough to break the moment and bring the both of them back to the fact that they were in one of the locker rooms at the MI6. At work.

"Get dressed and I'll be waiting outside in my car. Bring whatever you need for a couple of days." Erik pushed his own anal retentive need for control aside. This was exactly where they had been heading all along, even if he'd fought it in the beginning - first out of annoyance and then out of habit. Erik had left a notification that he was taking a couple of days off - something he rarely did and he had enough overtime to do so without any problems. And he knew that E had all but forced Charles to take at least a week off to recuperate.

He ignored the knowledge she'd grant him his time off just because she knew he'd finally gone home with Charles.

Erik let go of Charles when he was sure he was stable enough on his own feet and left the locker room without looking back. He didn't need to see the towel slide to the floor or the flush of Charles' skin.

There'd be time enough for that later.

The end

**Author's Note:**

> I felt this little series from 2014 needed a sort of ending. I recall having fun writing it back then and always keeping these two idiots dancing around each other. It was always fun writing Charles as the British agent with a cap A and Erik as the contrary asshole of a Quartermaster - and Emma as their long suffering boss *g*


End file.
